Internal Insulation of Masonry Walls

Load-bearing masonry buildings are a significant portion of the existing building stock. DOE’s Building America program has set a goal of reducing home energy use by 30–50%, compared to 2009 energy codes for new homes and preretrofit energy use for existing homes. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary to improve the insulation and air sealing of mass masonry walls, if mass masonry residential buildings are to be addressed. To help the industry address the energy and moisture performance of masonry walls, Building Science Corporation (BSC), one of ten DOE Building America teams, has been conducting research and development that has led to the publication of a recent guide, “Measure Guideline: Internal Insulation of Masonry Walls.” This guideline is summarized in the present article. The full text of the guideline can be downloaded from the Building America web site (see “learn more”).